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Mr. ALISO>~ (Canoubar) supported Mr. Brown's proposition. He would knock out that part where 

 it said " payment for interest, &c." He said they were all tenants of the Crown. The general body of 

 the people were as interested as the landlord iu keeping this pest down, and he thought the people would 

 voluntarily spend their money iu endeavouring to improve the public estate. The State ought to pay its 

 portion and contribute the netting, as long as the borrower paid back the principal. He thought it would 

 be as well to eliminate the interest altogether, for the Crown was interested in preventing the spread of 

 the pest. 



Mr. FIAXAGAN (Gunbar) supported the motion. Of course they knew circumstances altered 

 cases all over the Colony. Some delegates thought that wire-netting was not requisite. Perhaps not in 

 some parts of the country ; but he could say this, that in his locality they commenced to grow wheat a few 

 years ago, and they thought they could do it without wire-netting, but he had seen the rabbits eat as 

 much at night as a reaper and binder took off in a day. They found it impossible to grow wheat without 

 wire-netting. By borrowing money from their bankers some of them succeeded in wire netting 500 acres, 

 and some up to 2,000 acres. There was a delegate there who cultivated 2,000 acres. He was more 

 beneficial to the country than any wool-grower present. Mr. Harpur, of the Eail way Department, had 

 told them that 500 acres of wheat were more beneficial to the railways than 5,000 acres of wool. He 

 himself was a wheat and wool grower, and he would say this, that he could produce as much from 500 

 acres by wheat as from 5,000 acres by wool, and his returns from 500 acres of wheat were more than from 

 5,000 acres by wool. If the small men had no wire-netting it would simply be a loss of time and money 

 to put them on the soil, for they could not remain there. 



Mr. SIDES (Hay) said he knew of an instance where a man had abandoned a run, or, rather, the 

 rabbits had simply put him out of it. It was a property of 12,000 or 15,000 acres, and he was quite within 

 bounds in saying that there were 3,000 spent on improvements on that land. The man had had to leave 

 it. About two months ago that land was offered to him for 1,600, and he would not have it, for the 

 simple reason that to fence it in would be a big expense to him. He had land adjoining it on which he 

 had no stock, because it was overrun with rabbits. There was a necessity for the State to assist the 

 landowners, large and small. There were not many of the large owners in a much better position than 

 many of the small ones. He thought there were very few who would say " no " to the State assistance. 

 They knew very well they had to put their own hands in their pockets and find the wherewithal there 

 when they wanted assistance. That 4 per cent, should be done away with. Let them have actual cost. 

 If the State did not assist, it would simply shut up the means of progress of a coming and a great country. 

 The rabbits had come as a great flood, not as a wave. A 1^ inch mesh was not a rabbit-proof fence, 

 llabbits, when they were not fed, got small ; they got small themselves when they did not get enough to 

 eat. lj inch was quite small enough. Unless Parliament did something like this they might as well shut 

 up the Parliament House, or not build the new one they were talking about. 



Mr. VAKCOE (Hillston) had great pleasure in corroborating the remarks of the previous speakers. 

 He considered that this was the most important feature they had come there for iu fact, it was all they 

 wanted. If they could only get this, it would not matter if they had no Rabbit Bill at all. It would not 

 only be the salvation of many who were now struggling under a forlorn hope, but it would also be a 

 stimulus towards encouraging people to settle down on the present abandoned Crown lands, turning 

 them from a wilderness into smiling farms. He supported the motion. 



Mr. GORMAN (Berrigan) had much pleasure in supporting Mr. Brown's amendment. He merely 

 differed from him on a point of detail. He certainly did not agree with some of the speakers that the 

 whole of the burden should fall on the State. He understood, from Mr. Alison's remarks, that he would 

 not charge the settler any interest. lie considered interest should be borne also. He certainly felt that 

 if the State got rid of the rabbits on their own runs, and assisted the settlers by lending money for 

 netting, and charging a reasonable rate of interest say, 3 per cent., with a sinking fund of 5 per cent. 

 that was all they could expect. In Victoria the Shire Councils procured the wire-netting, and the settlers 

 had to pay a higher percentage than that. It had been found to work well there. 



Mr. STIXSOX (Coolamon) said that this was a very important matter. It was a very vital point 

 with the Government. If all the different Boards applied for money it would mean an enormous 

 expenditure. The Minister had told them that he would be only too pleased to come and join them in 

 their deliberations. He thought it would be a very wise thing to avail themselves of that offer, and ask 

 his advice upon this point. He would be able to help them materially. He would be able to offer 

 suggestions to them, which would be of great value. Without his advice, they might pass resolutions 

 which the Government would not accept, interested, as they were, to a great extent. 



Mr. DAVIDSON (Condobliu) rose to support Mr. Brown's motion. He represented a district which 

 was badly infested with rabbits and wallabies. On the Crown land adjoining the holdings there was a 

 perfect wilderness of scrub It would be almost impossible to destroy the rabbits and wallabies on this 

 land, and, unless wire-netting was supplied to the farmers and settlers in that district, they would very 

 soon have to abandon their holdings altogether. Within a radius of 20 miles from their Post Office there 

 were eighty settlers struggling against this terrible pest. They had wallabies by hundreds and thousands. 

 In one day they had burnt 6,000 scalps that had been collected in a very short time. Something must be 

 done, and he was sure, from what the Minister had said, that he was anxious to settle people on the land. 



Mr. BACON (Brewarrina) was iu thorough accord with Mr. Brown. He thought it would be better 

 to pass the clause, and then leave the matter to the Minister. The}' might leave the interest open. This 

 was a matter upon which the Minister's views should be taken. He would point out that this resolution 

 affected a lot of waste land in the Eastern Division, which was not generally taken into account, and 

 which was infested with wallabies and native-dogs, and the latter were a very serious pest in some districts. 

 He had great sympathy with the men who had pushed out into the wilderness, and had endeavoured to 

 make two blades of grass grow where there had been but one. He wished them every success, and that 

 they might go on and prosper. They had not only tried to grow two blades of grass, but also wheat, and 

 they deserved success. 



Mr. LAURENCE (Balranald) said there was one tiling he would like to mention, and that was, from 

 the experience they had had in the past of the Minister buying wire-netting to enable the holdings to be 

 fenced in, they had found that he had paid far more than the private individuals themselves would have 

 paid. They, themselves, knew best where to buy it, and how to get it on to their land. The Minister had 

 bought the netting in Sjdney, anc} in different places, and the enormous cost of carriage was, added to the 



expense 



